The top two teams of Group B faced off to continue their campaigns in Day 2 of The International 2019 Group Stage.
In true VP fashion, the Russian squad had the early kill lead in game one with Vladimir “No[o]ne” Minenko on Queen of Pain leading the way.
VG would counter with the double Earthshaker strat however, as Zhang “Paparazi灬” Chengjun on Morphling farmed an early Aghanim’s Scepter to become a stronger copy of teammate Ding “Dy” Cong’s Earthshaker.
The duo then dunked all over VP in teamfights to take the lead for their team.
While VG would overextend on a subsequent push on VP’s base, Paparazi was simply too much to handle and went on a rampage that broke the back of the Russian squad and eventually forced the GG.
Game two was a more methodical affair with both teams opting for a battle between tanky and high-damage dual cores, with VP going for Slark for Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev and Death Prophet for No[o]ne while VG picked up Leshrac for Paparazi and Medusa for Zeng “Ori” Jiaoyang.
Both teams spent much of the game skirmishing and building up their cores for a decisive clash. While VP was able to catch their opponents unawares as they assaulted top lane, a later teamfight at mid saw Ori’s Medusa stand and deliver against VP, resulting in a near teamwipe and the eventual sweep of the series.
VG maintain their hold on the top spot of Group B with a clean 6-0 record, while VP fall down the rankings at 3-3.
Be sure to check out our coverage of The International 2019 Group Stage for more TI9 action.
